CASE STUDY

The Seton Hall University fire (2000):

The Boland Hall dormitory was set on fire around 4:30 a.m. The fire killed three students and injured 62. The building had no sprinklers because it was built before such devices were required.

The fire immediately set off fire alarms in the 640-student freshman dorm but most students simply rolled over and went back to bed. There have been 18 false alarms in the dorm since the school year began in September, and students have become accustomed to ignoring them.

The fire alarms sounded. Unfortunately, because the students experienced 18 false alarms in the prior 4 months, most students simply rolled over and went back to sleep. They had become accustomed to ignoring the alarms. South Orange firefighters extinguished the third-floor fire quickly.

One student said, I just thought it was another false alarm. I just laid there, kind of ignoring it, until I heard someone running down the hall. They were screaming, This is real, this is a real fire! Getout!

The state fire code governing dormitories requires a multitude of fire-safety devices, including twice-yearly drills and various alert systems. University officials acknowledged they have not held any fire drillsat Boland since September. A spokeswoman from Seton Hall said false alarms provided enough practice. There were no called fire drills because we were evacuating students at a rate of more than two times a week with fire alarms, she said.

Questions

What was the undesirable outcome of the above case?

What pre-crisis steps university would have taken?

What is the acute crisis of fire?

What are the post crisis scenario?